Cheap eats: this week’s meal plan

With reports of inflation rising in the UK and price hikes on various things, I am looking carefully to make sure we don’t over spend at the moment. Careful meal planning to keep our food bill low and lots of cheap eats are likely to be even more important that usual in the coming months and years.

This week’s meal plan uses a lot of ingredients that have been hanging around a while, including some Simply Cook spice kits. These are very nice and reliable, although I do sometimes adapt the suggested ingredients to use what we already have!

I am considering moving over to monthly meal plans so that I can shop less and in buy in bulk more. Does anyone else do this? I’m not sure I am organised enough…

Cheap eats for this week’s meal plan

Sunday

We are starting the week with a little party in the garden. It is a delayed baby shower for Mr Shoestring’s niece. We had to postpone it when new covid regulations came in last summer. Now little Birdy has been here almost seven months, and it’s time for her first full family get together.

Sadly, the weather isn’t looking that promising, but we have the gazebo up and it’s not forecast to be cold. We will sit outside and be British and stoic about it!

Lunch is a group effort: sandwiches, crisps, sausage rolls, olives and pickles, chicken wings, scones with cream and lots of cake varieties. We will drink prosecco and some of the elderflower cordial I made last week and play the silly games we had planned for the baby shower. A fun day!

Dinner will no doubt be leftovers or an omelette. Something easy anyway!

Monday

Brown rice and cashew nut pilaff tonight. I think that eating more home cooked vegetarian food is a good way to keep your grocery bill low. The cashew nuts came from Aldi and were £1.59 for 200g. I will add some peanuts too to make it extra crunchy. I will stir fry some shredded cabbage with these, as I picked up two reduced ones in  Aldi.

Tuesday

My favourite quick and easy tea: Eggs, chips, beans or peas. Sometimes I make my own chips in the air fryer, but I think I will cheat and use oven chips from the freezer. They are just as cheap.

Wednesday

Simply Cook chilli chicken chowder, but I might make this with fish instead. I think it will work…. As I say, I often swap the main ingredients and they have always turned out well because the flavours are so good.

You can order a free Simply Cook box using my referral link here, and I will also get a free box! I have been using fee boxes from referrals for months now. They are always tasty and easy to make.

Thursday

Smoky chicken and chick pea casserole. I like adding pulses to meat dishes as a way to make the meat stretch a bit further. We will have some yellow sticker cabbage with this and some mashed potato.

Friday

I am planning to make enough chicken casserole to have leftovers tonight. This saves time, so I try to double cook at least once a week.

Saturday 

My daughters are here for dinner, so I think I will make another veggie dish: Red dragon pie from my old copy of Sarah Brown’s Vegetarian Kitchen. This is a really moist and tasty alternative to shepherd’s pie, using aduki beans instead of minced meat (I use tinned for convenience).  We will eat the last of the cabbage with this, plus maybe also some broccoli.

So those are our cheap eats for this week. Are you concerned about rising food prices? What are your tips to save money on groceries?

I am joining in with Katy Kicker’s meal planning linky. Check out her meal plan this week too. You can see more of my favourite food ideas and recipes here.